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Porcelain, 1954-1990s

In 1958 the artist Anna Yatskevich’s "Cobalt Net" decoration of a service won a gold medal at the International Exhibition in Brussels. The famous pattern became the hallmark of the Leningrad Porcelain Factory. It was inspired by the decoration of Empress Elizabeth’s Own Service of the late 1750s and harmoniously complemented the soft, lobed forms of the Tulip Service. At the same time gold medals were awarded to Serafima Yakovleva for the designs of the Tulip, Spring and Eastern services and to Alexei Vorobyevsky for his painting of the Folk Patterns and Russian Lubok services. The Grand Prix, the exhibition’s highest award, went to the Crystal and Maritime vases by the sculptor Vladimir Semionov.

In the 1960s reconstruction was carried out at the factory with the introduction of continuous operation tunnel kilns, semi-automatic machinery for casting and shaping items. This, combined with new mechanized methods of decorating the porcelain, led to a considerable increase in the volume of production. In this same period the factory began to produce unusual small bone-china cups that produced a melodious ring when gently tapped. They were distinguished from the ordinary porcelain by a warmer colour of the paste and an extremely thin layer of glaze. Those qualities put Leningrad bone china close to the celebrate "eggshell" variety of Chinese porcelain.

The properties of the new material were duly appreciated by the factory’s sculptors Eduard Krimmer, Anna Leporskaya and Vladimir Semenov. The designs of cups and services that they produced invariably emphasized the thinness, translucence and whiteness of the porcelain. Subsequently Tatyana Linchevskaya, Nina Slavina and Elvira Yeropkina began to work with bone china. Further elegance was given to pieces in this material by the painting of Alexei Vorobyevsky, Tamara Bespalova, Inna Olevskaya and Mikhail Mokh.

At exhibitions in the 1970s, Leningrad porcelain was represented by the works of the factory’s oldest artist Alexei Vorobyevsky, who employed fairy-tale motifs, and of the past master of animal painting on porcelain Ivan Riznich. The creative collaboration of the sculptor Pavel Veselov and the artist Victor Zhbanov led to the creation of a "porcelain zoo" numbering almost 100 figurines of animals and birds. Pavel Veselov achieved European recognition together with a silver medal at the World Ceramics Exhibition in Prague, where the gold was taken by Pablo Picasso.

In 1980 the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory was given "as a mark of particular acknowledgement of its contribution to the development of industry and international co-operation" the prestigious Gold Mercury (Mercurio D’oro) international award and joined the ranks of the highly-profitable industrial enterprises.

For the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus’ (the adoption of Christianity) in 1988 the factory produced to a commission from the Russian Orthodox Church a formal service of almost a thousand pieces intended for the residence of the Patriarch.

The latest decades in the history of Russian porcelain are marked by the names of the artists Andrei Larionov, Elvira Yeropkina, Mikhail Sorokin, Tatyana Afanasyeva, Galina Shuliak and Nelli Petrova.

The main theme of Andrei Larionov’s work has been the literary images of St Petersburg in the works of Gogol, Dostoyevsky and Blok. The work of Elvira Yeropkina revived the tradition of genre sculpture at the factory that had been lost in the 1960s. The subjects of her work are balls and the circus, scenes from daily life and Bible stories. The virtuoso painting of Tatyana Afanasyeva is dominated by images of peopleless tower-towns and rocky coastlines (the Hyperbole and Fragments of a Mirror services). Galina Shuliak, who is both porcelain painter and sculptor, produces a series of works using the underglaze technique. Her latest services Serpentine, Cage, Cocoon and Death Spiral are attractive for the laconic expressiveness of the cobalt patterns enhanced by gold. Philosophical contemplation of the idea of "the homeland" runs through the profoundly lyrical works transfused with love and a bright sorrow produced by the factory’s chief artist Nelli Petrova. In her cycle of works, Sources, Sleeping Russia, childhood impressions combine with reflections on the fate of the countryside today.

An exhibition of works by contemporary porcelain artists was held in the Hermitage in 2001.